Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Our council meeting was the next day; they were occurring weekly now during the investigation instead of monthly, and I was dreading it.
It had already been a week since we started, which left only a little over two weeks until graduation.
Only two weeks until the students broke for the summer or graduated and we lost all opportunity to find the culprit.
Though we had suspects with their own reasons for wanting to harm Dani or Maya, we didn’t have evidence of how any of them might have gone about hexing her.
Or even what they might have hexed her with, which meant we had exactly zilch to show for all our work thus far.
I arrived at the meeting room without Max.
He was trying to get the toxicology report from Joselyn Hart’s stay at the hospital, and I hadn’t spoken with him all day.
Maybe he had some issues back at his parents’ that he had to deal with.
Or maybe he was just seeing his girlfriend and didn’t want to tell me.
I walked in, found a seat at the long table, and proceeded to fidget until I had even more nervous energy, if that was possible. I sat on my feet, then readjusted to cross my legs. I put my hair up and then back down again until I finally looked up and noticed Dr. Perez watching me.
My cheeks reddened. “Oh.”
He took the seat beside me. “Saw you sit in on my ancient religions class. Thought you might stay after for a chat.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. Lots to do, with the investigation and all.”
His brow raised. “So you weren’t avoiding me?”
I swallowed. “No.”
“Really? Well, I suppose I’ll have to take your word on that.” He kept watching me, and I squirmed.
“Fine. I’m sorry I didn’t come by to talk to you. Then, and now.” I rubbed my thumb over my leather cord. “I didn’t know what to say.”
“You mean, ‘Sorry I ran off and sent you a one-line email in response to declining the fellowship you spent several weeks securing a line of funding for. Sorry I never answered the phone when you tried to get a reason why?’”
“I didn’t want to leave the position, honest. It’s just … things were complicated.”
He raised his eyebrows, looked around the room. “You’re here now. Are they still complicated?”
I was distracted by Luce Montgomery walking into the room. I tried to send her a hey, no hard feelings can-we-please-just-not-be-enemies look, but what I got in return was such a stone-faced glower that I shrank back a little.
Okay, so still mad.
I stopped. “Wait, are you saying you still want me to work with you?”
He sighed. “Cella, you’re one of the most gifted Magical researchers I’ve ever met.
And I don’t just say that because of the Magic.
You see things other people don’t. You’re dedicated, kind, conscientious.
There will always be a spot for you in my department, whether that’s a year from now or five. ”
I smiled. Dr. Perez was one of the few people who’d always seen me, had read my research and understood what I was trying to do, independent of the fact that I was a dimidium. I suspect he’d realized not long after talking to Max that he couldn’t have been the brains behind our work.
And yet I’d let him down, too.
“I appreciate that, sir. I really do. Though I don’t want you to get your hopes up. I don’t expect I’ll be around long once the investigation is over.”
He clapped me on the shoulder. “We’ll talk about that when the time comes. For now, I think Thea has rather strong ‘dibs’ on your time. Far be it from me to insist my work is more important than your help with our current predicament.”
In the corner, Luce snorted. Dr. Perez returned to his seat as Dr. Robetresse walked in, steel-toed boots gleaming.
She brushed wood shavings off her jacket and took a long swig of coffee.
“Before we get started, I want to let everyone know that the Hagoods have agreed to halt their impending lawsuit against the school. They seem, for the time being, appeased by my confidence in the investigation and the capabilities of Cella and Max, who I believe have an update for us. What have you found?”
All the eyes in the room swiveled toward me.
Max still hadn’t arrived. I swallowed and tried not to shrink down in my seat.
“We’re trying to get the toxicology report from Joselyn Hart’s stay at a local hospital.
There was a report about hexed pills at a fraternity party, so that’ll be another line of inquiry.
Otherwise, we have a few …” I looked down.
If there was an easy way to imply that teachers of the university could be involved without offending said teachers, I wished I knew.
“There are other suspects involved with S&B who were close to either Dani or Maya whom we’d like to continue looking into, though I’d prefer not to say more until we have a definitive direction.” I cringed at how soft my voice sounded.
Dr. Ellendale de Vries was in his usual lovely mood. “And did they provide some sort of reason that would make you suspicious? Anything you’d like to share with the class?”
“Give the girl a chance to conduct her investigation without you harping on her about every little thing,” said Dr. Nguyen. She was wearing a bright yellow sweater with daisies on it, and a ball of yellow yarn was trailing off of it and darting behind her like a bee looking for a flower.
“I just don’t want the two of them going around making accusations without adequate cause.”
I swallowed. “There’s nothing so far to tie them to hexes, but there are motives present for hurting either of the girls.”
Ellendale was part of the reason I didn’t want to go further into the details of the investigation.
He’d already blocked his PhD students from talking to us, and it seemed like he was doing everything in his power to make the investigation more difficult for us.
He’d had no classes with either Dani or Maya and, as far as I knew, no contact with them outside of school, but his disdain for the investigation was still an aggravating and perplexing obstacle we had to deal with.
“Dr. Oswold, you mean?” Dr. Robetresse asked. I knew she was unhappy about me looking into her, which was another reason I wasn’t too thrilled about updating the council so publicly.
“A professor is a suspect?” Dr. Nguyen squeaked, the yarn unspooling behind her.
“But of course,” Ellendale scowled. “The rumors this is going to cause, I swear, Thea. Who are the others? And where is Max?”
I wished Max was here almost as much as Ellendale did.
If only because then I wouldn’t have to go through the rest of this rapidly spiraling meeting alone.
I tried to summon all my confidence, twist myself into someone they would want to listen to, into the version of myself that most suited everyone else.
Someone braver, someone wittier, someone more believable somehow.
Just as I found myself cursing him for abandoning me to the wolves, the door opened, and there he was.
“Dr. Strauss would be the other suspect,” he said, tipping his hat. “Excuse my tardiness, I do apologize.”
He winked and touched the brim of his hat. “And there’s no need to throw accusations at Cella. We’re only doing the job that was asked of us by this council.”
“Dr. Strauss? That’s ridiculous,” Ellendale sputtered, the hairs on his head shaking like tiny furious coils.
Dr. Nguyen shared a look with Robetresse, so quick and fleeting that I might’ve imagined it.
“What evidence do you have?” asked Ellendale.
My pulse beat in my throat. The light flickering from the ornate iron chandelier cast a hungry gleam on all their faces.
Dr. Nguyen’s yarn flitted back and forth, frantically trying to catch the information flying by too quickly to process.
Ellendale’s TA had both forearms propped up on the table, watching the scene with keen interest. Dr. Perez frowned in the corner.
And Luce looked like the only thing she was missing was a bowl of popcorn.
Max sent a tendril of Magic to calm me down. Gentle waves coursed through me, the smell of saddle leather, the warm breath of horses. I took a deep breath.
“I could walk you all through my process. Maybe that would help,” I said.
“Please,” said Dr. Robetresse.
I nodded. “So, with object analysis, we’re looking for things that might raise suspicion or point toward who might be responsible.
That generally falls into three categories: First, if the person’s object has something in common with the hex.
This might not be as obvious as it sounds.
It’s not straightforward how people shape their will around their objects.
Magic is a tricky thing. In this case, we’re looking for an object that might inspire violence.
A weapon, perhaps, or something that might be used as one.
Perhaps something that flies or levitates, as levitation is one of Dani’s most visible symptoms. The object could also be scarred in a way that mirrors the scarring on Dani’s skin. ”
“Something that might be used as a weapon?” Ellendale scoffed. “For God’s sake, I could use a stapler as a weapon. I could use my abacus as a weapon. Does that make me a suspect?”
“Ellendale, please,” Dr. Robetresse said.
Somehow, I doubted that Max would be met with the same chagrin by Ellendale if he was giving this speech.
I was reminded of all the conferences I’d been to with Max.
Every time someone came up to talk to us and directed their questions at Max, assuming I was his assistant, or his date.
Offering him a nice, firm handshake while I got a polite nod. Or a wave.
But I gritted my teeth and continued. “The second thing we’re looking for is inconsistency.
If the object behaves in a manner that’s at odds with what its owner is saying or how they’re acting, it could indicate there’s something the person is trying to hide.
Objects, intentionally or not, tend to betray their owners in one way or another. ”
I thought back to the notes coming off Dr. Oswold’s objects: completely frazzled, exhibiting a total unsurety of even what they were—at complete odds with the calm, collected professor.
“And lastly, what happened to Maya was an incredibly violent act. I hesitate to believe the culprit intended it to go as far as it did. In which case, the person’s object may indicate some degree of guilt or inner turmoil, even if the person is less obvious in portraying said guilt.
This may manifest in damage to the object, such as cracks, splinters, smoking, or malfunctioning, a model airplane with torn wings, a kettle that refuses to boil, et cetera. ”
An image popped into my head of the little statue in Strauss’s office, with its head and legs lopped clear off. He’d been trying to fix it—and hide from us the damage done to it.
“And how would you know all this about an object? It’s not like they bloody well speak,” Ellendale asked.
“Well, in a way, they do. I’ve studied notes in objects for years. You’re welcome to have a look at my paper on the subject.”
Dr. Robetresse nodded. “That’s quite enough evidence for me. I thank you both for the update. I’m sure we all have quite a bit to mull over. As always, if—”
Max tilted his hat back. “One more thing. Why was Dr. Strauss removed from this council?”
Dr. Robetresse arched an eyebrow. “That is a private matter unrelated to this investigation.”
“Pardon my French, ma’am, but the hell it is. We have a right to know.”
Dr. Robetresse gave him a withering stare. “Again, I thank you both for your update on the investigation. As always, if anyone has any new information, I’d like to discuss it here.”
Ellendale nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, discuss it here,” Max murmured after the meeting, once everyone had cleared off, “so they can do damage control beforehand. So they can protect their own.”
“Robetresse is protecting him.”
“Yeah, and she’s not the only one,” Max said.
I nodded, catching his train of thought. “Ellendale.”